php -&gt; pdf ?

php -> pdf ?

slightlyeskew

Hey guys! Hope all is well.

I had this question come up and I had no idea how to approach it. Is it possible to convert something generated via php to a .pdf file, and how would I go about doing it? Thanks for your time!

-slight

NogDog

There's always the [man]PDF[/man] extension if you have it installed or can install it. There are also some 3rd-party scripts/classes out there you can try, such as PEAR::File_PDF. (I've not used it so cannot comment on it, I just knew I'd seen a PDF package in the PEAR repository.)

Krik

I just finished a project last week were I had to make PDF reports. I used TCPDF and it work very well. I had php generate the report in HMTL and then used TCPDF to create the PDF file from the HTML. It was very simple they have some 60+ example files and then plenty of documentation. So if your comfortable with PHP you should have very little trouble figuring it out.

There are also some 3rd-party scripts/classes out there you can try, such as PEAR::File_PDF. (I've not used it so cannot comment on it, I just knew I'd seen a PDF package in the PEAR repository.)

I actually looked into using that but it is still in beta and the last time it was updated is almost 2 and a half years ago. And, from some of what I have read, it apparently has a few annoying bugs. I hope they eventually get it finished though, it looks to have some potential.

slightlyeskew

Thanks Krik and NogDog! Yeah I was looking over the PEAR documentation for the PDF function and it looked a little rough around the edges.

Do you know if TCPDF allows for the creation of encrypted PDFs?

Thanks for your help!

-slight

Krik

You can check out their web site at http://www.tcpdf.org/. And the list of features does include "document encryption".

cretaceous

I used FPDF a lot and it works well but layout needs rebuilding in non-html style - i.e. millimetres so can be hassle for complex page layouts but it's good for tight 'design led' output

I have been looking at MPDF (as well as TCPDF) for better "html straight to PDF" conversion - they both do encryption but haven't tried them yet

johanafm

If you're familiar with LaTeX you could also create LaTeX code and generate pdfs from that instead. But it will require shell execution.

slightlyeskew

Let me revise my question here.

So I'm trying to encapsulate this whole process...

I want to take my data and create a PDF, encrypt it, and then take that PDF and attach it to an email. I want to set it up to run in a single process, where I say click and then the script runs itself.

I know how to make the PDF with a php script, and I know I can take the PDF and manually encrypt it, and then I can run a script to grab that PDF and add it as an attachment and send it off.

How would I go about using php to send the data to some external program to encrypt, and then return automatically?

Is there some way I could do this with an API? I have no idea how to go about using APIs with php, and none of my literature has any reference to it...(I'm still a new programmer!)

I would just do it manually but I have to do this many, many times, around 400. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

cretaceous

MPDF or TCPDF (and others) will encrypt it for you as part of your PDF write process - no need for an API

slightlyeskew

Forgive my newbness, but I'm not entirely following you cretaceous.

Are you saying that my script can interact with MPDF or TCPDF without any intervention on my part, to produce an encrypted PDF?

As nogdog mentioned, I know there's a pear package to create PDFs, but I have no idea how to interface my scripts with MPDF or TCPDF. Could you direct me to some literature on the subject? Thanks so much for your time I appreciate it!

-slight

Krik

TCPDF is a class it just a couple php files (the main file is 24,000 lines of code), it is not a library or pear package so you don't have to install or compile it. You just upload their files, in folder, on your server, and then you create a php file that uses their functions and class.

The link I provided earlier has 60+ example page demonstrating how you can use php, with TCPDF, to create a pdf.

slightlyeskew

krik,

So sorry for my newbness! The first time I looked over the site really quickly it looked like an external program. Thanks again so much for your help this seems to be exactly what I was looking for!

-slight